Ephesus was a big exciting city. In some ways the world of a city in the Roman Empire was quite like today's world. There were some people making loads of money; and others were poor - in fact slaves. Some were trying to get on with their lives; some loved to party. Some filled their lives with sex and booze. Some were involved in magic and occult stuff. There was everything in Ephesus. And one day a bald-headed man called Paul came to Ephesus, and started preaching, "God is Emperor, the true King. His rule is totally good. He has set up his government not by sending an army but by sending Jesus who died to deal with everything that isn't good in the world. We know what Jesus did work, because he rose again from the dead. Because he's alive today we can have a transforming encounter with God, know his power inside us and enter his Kingdom - if we allow him in." Loads of people wanted to connect with this "kingdom of God, were baptised, and joined Paul. Their lives were changed. The ones who were sleeping around stopped. The drunks sobered up. Those who were into magic and the occult brought all their charms and books of spells, and had a huge bonfire. People stopped buying gold and silver idols from the jewellers' shops. It was amazing.
The point...
That's the story Paul is referring to when he says to those Ephesian Christians, "You were dead in the wrong stuff you used to do... living exactly the same as everyone else at work and at school... what was the point of all that stuff? But God made you alive with Christ. His death took away your death and his resurrection gives you new life. His being seated in Heaven seats you in heaven too. Dying rising again and sharing glory, is what has happened to every Christian. That doesn't mean we have no more pain or trouble. It means that we can rise above it all. It means we can always bring it to God and bring something if the Kingdom of heaven down to our world - because as far as he's concerned we're already in heaven.
I had a group of P3 children in Church on Wednesday. The baptistery was opened, and the children asked, "What is the bath for?" One little lad was sure he knew. He said "when you bring dead people into church you put them up there and they go down into the hole." The little chap had got the church and the crematorium mixed up in his head; but he got the theology exactly right. When a person comes to Jesus, the old, rubbishy, me-first, try-everything-going, what's-the-point-of-it-all life is dead and buried and you are made alive as a brand new person. When you signed up with Jesus and were baptised, you died too, to the old way of living, and rose to a new kind of life that shares his victory, and already is seated in heaven.
This all happened not because you deserved it; it happened through God's grace. Sometimes we have explained GRACE to by saying it's God's Riches At Christ's expense; I prefer God's Redemptive Action Continually Experienced. It's not just about the Cross. The word "Grace" is close to the words for joy and thanks. Grace is the beauty and generosity that brings joy and makes us say "Thank-you."
Getting practical...
That is what has actually happened to some of you. It has happened. Sometimes you don't look like it has happened. Sometimes you don't feel like it has happened. Maybe when you are at home and your Mum asks you to tidy your room, you don't behave as if you're a new person. Maybe then, when you've reacted wrong to Mum, or when someone treats you badly, you don't feel like a new person. But Paul uses the past tense. God made you alive. You were living the same as everyone else. God has raised you up. God has forgiven you, not because you deserve it, but by his grace. It's past. It's done.
We need to let facts rule over our feelings. You don't feel different to the people around you. You don't feel very forgiven. You don't feel victorious or triumphant. You don't feel saved. But Paul says, "It has all happened". The fact is that two thousand years ago, Jesus took all our rubbish away and sat down at father's right hand, as if to say "job done!" The fact is that he promised never to turn away anyone who comes to him. The fact is that you have Trusted him and Turned to him. I want you to learn to trust the facts instead of the feelings. You can trust the facts. You can't trust the feelings. There may be deep things inside that need to be healed so our feelings can come into line. If you trust the facts, that will help heal the feelings.
So, we believe these facts. Jesus came and died. Jesus is alive. I have trusted him. "It's all grace. So I don't need to bother how I live my life." We can carry on exactly as we were before we came to Jesus. We can give Mum a bad time when she tells us to clean our room.
But we are his workmanship (literally, his poetry). We are God's project; his work of art. He has created us, not just to enjoy ourselves, but for good works.
How does that affect my life? "I'm created for good works. So now I'm weird!" Does it mean that now I'm a Christian, I can't fit in any more? Can't have friends. Got to sing hymns all the time and generally be old-fashioned. One of the kids who came from School on Wednesday asked me a very unnerving question? "Is the Church all old people?" (Where did she get that idea from??) So do I have to hang about with old people, doing a bunch of "old person" stuff all the time?
But God has already prepared these good works for us to walk in them. These good works that are part of God's big purpose, to make a whole new universe where God rules. It's not about being weird. It's about seeking God's Kingdom - healing, justice, peace, purity in our world. We walk in God's purpose, instead of walking in our old sinful way of life.
So, and with this I will come in to land, there are two places I want you to move into.
1. I want you, spiritually, now, to take your seat in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
2. I want you to walk in the good works God has prepared for you to do. I want you to make that journey of discovery, of working with God in his world.
© Gilmour Lilly April 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment